Bringing you today’s stories on issues important to Native communities. Native NewsClips is a complimentary service of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.  Please save the dates for our Fourth Annual Native Hawaiian Conference from August 30 - September 2 2005, at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.  For information and updates on our training workshops and events, please visit our Web site: www.hawaiiancouncil.org.

 

 

February 8, 2005

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Funeral for a fallen warrior

By William Cole and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

HONOLULU, HI - All of Hawai'i turned out to remember 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe last night at Kawaiaha'o Church, it seemed. Certainly it was a cross-section rarely seen.

More than 650 mourners crowded into the church to pay their respects. Among them were Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, former Gov. John Waihee, other elected officials, business leaders, soldiers and ordinary people wanting to say goodbye.

Hoe, 27, who was killed on Jan. 22 in Mosul, Iraq, was so many things to so many people.

The popular platoon leader with a smile that would light up a room was a son, a brother, a husband, a 1995 Kamehameha Schools graduate, a University of Hawai'i ROTC standout and wore an Army Ranger tab.

Hoe was a modern-day soldier, but he also considered himself a Hawaiian warrior. So it was fitting that a blend of Hoe's two cultures gathered last night to say aloha to their hero.

Hoe's flag-draped coffin arrived at the church in a white hearse. He was greeted by chanters as well as warriors from both the Hawaiian and military communities. Four barefoot warriors clad in black kiheis and four Army soldiers in Class-A dress uniforms carried the coffin past family, led by two more warriors with koa and ohia spears.

A procession of people waiting to get into the church and offer condolences to the family stretched to Punchbowl Street from about 5:30 p.m. until 6:45 p.m. The Maunawili man will be buried today at the Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe.

Tommy Kaulukukui Jr., a longtime friend of the Hoe family, said last night's service was planned to reflect Hoe's heritage and love for his country.

"Nainoa considered himself a Hawaiian warrior, but he also was a modern-day soldier," Kaulukukui, one of the pallbearers, said. "The service was a blend of the two backgrounds that he had."

The two chants that greeted Hoe's body expressed the grief of the mourners and also "cleared the way" for Hoe, Kaulukukui said.

Several Hawaiian warriors were to stand vigil with Hoe overnight at the Kamehameha Schools chapel.

Lt. Col. James Johnson, a professor of military science at UH who knew Hoe as a cadet during his last year as a graduate student in business administration, said Hoe "was so genuine in his pursuit of the very best in himself and others."

"You can hear about his military record, his academic performance and how he attained excellence in those areas, but he was a genuine friend to many people," Johnson said. "For a person who lives only 27 years, he's had quite an impact."

Hoe was U.S. Army Pacific reserve soldier of the year with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, and was fourth in a 2002 national ranking of 4,500 ROTC cadets. In his last year at UH, Hoe was ROTC battalion commander.

He received his commission, earned his "jump wings," went through Ranger school and was assigned in 2004 to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment — a Stryker armored-vehicle unit from Fort Lewis, Wash. He had been in Iraq since October.

First Lt. Raymond O'Donnell said that "Nainoa's men were the most important thing to him." He always was out front, and "he never asked his men to do something he wouldn't do himself."

On Jan. 22, the 2nd Platoon leader and his soldiers were sent to the neighborhood of al-Whada in Mosul. In addition to hunting insurgents and searching houses, they were to help get out the vote for the Jan. 30 national elections.

About 3:30 p.m., Hoe was felled in the street by a single shot. Army officials later said a sniper probably singled out Hoe as the platoon leader. Hoe was wearing a bulletproof vest, but the bullet hit him in an exposed area behind his left shoulder. It traveled through both lungs and punctured his aorta before exiting his body through his right armpit.

Inside Kawaiaha'o Church, more than 23 large wreaths with vivid red, green, yellow and white flowers flanked Hoe's lei-draped coffin.

Emily Hoe, who married Nainoa on the beach at the Bayer Estate in Hawai'i Kai in June, said the couple planned on having children as soon as he returned from Iraq.

He would tell her about dreaming he was coming home — and then wake up to the reality that was Iraq. He was serious and precise about his work, but he still had part of the "kid" inside and liked to watch "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoons, she said.

Hoe's father, Allen, is an attorney and active with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. His brother, Nakoa, is a private first class with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, and was preparing for duty in Iraq when word came of his brother's death.

Nakoa was with his parents and sister-in-law at Kawaiaha'o yesterday, on emergency leave. As a sole surviving child, Nakoa Hoe has the option of not deploying to Iraq.

"We're giving him as much time as he needs," said Army Reserve spokesman Lt. Col. Howard Sugai.

Pam Lau, whose son Sgt. Keenan Lau is with the 100th in Kuwait awaiting Iraq duty, asked his mother during a phone call if she had heard about Nainoa's death. Keenan Lau had known Nainoa when he was with the 100th Battalion.

"He said, 'Mom, when they have the service, could you please go in my place?' " Pam Lau said.

"It's difficult," she added. "You feel for the family, pray for the family. It's a difficult time for everybody. Deep down inside, you know (what happened to Nainoa Hoe) is a possibility for your own. You hope not."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8025. Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.

 

 

 

 

 

HOAP for Hawaii – Home Ownership Assistance Program

 

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is bringing hope to eligible Hawaiian Home Land beneficiaries throughout the state with a program coincidentally called HOAP.  Complimenting an unprecedented development effort to build more than 1,000 homes over the next five years, DHHL has partnered with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) to administer its Home Ownership Assistance Program (HOAP). 

 

CNHA will be conducting the program’s first Orientation session on the east side of Hawaii at the Keaukaha Elementary School Cafeteria on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

 

Session agenda includes an overview of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and DHHL and its divisions; an overview of the Hawaiian Home Lands' application process and eligibility criteria; and information on the more than 40 upcoming homebuyer education and financial literacy workshops that will be conducted by nonprofit providers throughout the state.  Through HOAP, program participants will be able to improve their understanding of what it takes to achieve homeownership, increase the likelihood of qualifying for a loan and access personalized assistance in repairing credit and reducing debt.

 

For more information and to find out when HOAP is coming to your area, contact the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement toll free at:  1-866-897-4384, fax us at: 1-866-897-4385 or visit our website at www.dhhlhoap.org to register.  E-Mail us at: info@dhhlhoap.org.

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Saturday, February 5, 2005

Lingle picks Carroll to fill House seat

Advertiser Staff

 

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday appointed D. Mele Carroll to fill the vacant House District 13 seat, which covers East Maui, Lana'i and Moloka'i. Carroll will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Sol Kaho'ohalahala. "After conducting an open search for eligible candidates who were willing to serve the people of District 13 and our state, I am today appointing Mele Carroll to the House of Representatives," said Lingle in a statement released by her office.

 

Carroll serves as executive assistant and chief legislative liaison to Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, concentrating on East Maui, Lana'i and Moloka'i issues. She also serves at the substance abuse and drug abuse liaison for Maui County and focuses on health-related issues. As Mayor Arakawa's chief legislative liaison, Carroll serves as the mayor's representative at the Legislature, at the Maui County Council and with the Lingle-Aiona administration.

 

Before joining the mayor's office, Carroll was chief of staff for Sen. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Lana'i and Moloka'i), and also served as his chief of staff when he was on the Maui County Council.

 

Kaho'ohalahala submitted his resignation on Jan. 6, according to the governor's statement, and applicants submitted their resumés, which were reviewed by a bipartisan screening panel.

 

The panel included former Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana, chairman, Maui County Democratic Party; Sen. Rosalyn Baker, D-5th (W. Maui, S. Maui); Nelson Befitel, director, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and a native of Moloka'i; Shay Chan Hodges, chair, District 13, Democratic Party; Georgina Kawamura, state budget and finance director and native of Lana'i; and George Kaya, the governor's Maui liaison.

 

Five candidates were found to meet the core eligibility requirements, including being a U.S. citizen, a state resident for not less than three years and at least 18 years of age, a qualified voter of the 13th House District, and a member of the Hawai'i Democratic Party.

The five were interviewed by a three-member panel made up of Bob Awana, the governor's chief of staff; Sen. Les Ihara, D-9th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Kaimuki, Kapahulu); and Linda Smith, the governor's senior policy adviser.

 

 

 

 

 

Listen up!

 

Local artists have high hopes for the new Hawaiian Grammy category

 

By Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com

It's Grammy time again -- the music awards ceremony takes place next Sunday -- and for the first time the prestigious event is including a Hawaiian music category.

"It's not like we've been hiding," joked Keali'i Reichel, one of five local nominees. "Hawaiians only have been playing music for 2,000 years, so I guess it's about time they discovered us."

The Brothers Cazimero playfully lamented that Hawaii's "special secret" is being revealed.

"With all the publicity Hawaiian music will receive, we'll have to share it with the world," Robert Cazimero said, laughing. "It was inevitable."

Also nominated for the inaugural award are Ho'okena, Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom and Willie K, and Charles Brotman for a slack-key guitar compilation disc. While there will be only one winner, all of Hawaii and its musicians stand to gain. The Grammys bring a crowd of journalists and publicists to the entertainment capital, which could translate into increased recognition, record sales, performance fees and publicity campaigns for the celebrated artists, and Hawaiian music in general.

"Every nominee can say for the rest of his or her life that they were a Grammy nominee or the winner," said Alan Yamamoto, president of the Hawaii Academy of Recording Artists.

Being nominated will "pay" in other ways, he said.

"All will see a bump in records sales -- especially the winner -- and performance fees will definitely increase significantly for the winner, like they do for winners of the Hoku awards." (The Na Hoku Hanohano Awards are Hawaii's version of the Grammys and presented by HARA.)

"The mainland door for these nominated artists specifically, and Hawaiian music generally, is opening," said Matt Catingub, a former Grammy nominee and conductor of the Honolulu Symphony Pops Orchestra. "It's about time."

Nominees, local entertainers and promoters admit frustration that it has taken so long for the genre to be recognized by awards officials and that there is only a single "traditional" Hawaiian music category.

"Baby steps," says Manu Boyd, vocalist for Ho'okena. "Eventually the child will run."

Catingub wants to see at least three Hawaiian music categories, as has happened with country music. He calls the single category "an important step in the right direction to eventually recognizing the real music."

"Let's face it, no one since Don Ho or (Cecilio and Kapono) has really broken down that door and had mainstream acceptance. When they add a contemporary Hawaiian category, the door will be fully open."

Many in the Hawaii music industry agree that the first Grammy is a win for the Hawaiian people, culture and state.

"At least this first time out, we're all ohana," said Willie K, who is nominated with Gilliom for "Amy and Willie Live." "This is not about just individual pride or recognition, but for all those musicians before us who kept the music alive."

Gilliom agreed. "I wouldn't be here if not for them. I say mahalo to centuries of our people's music."

Na Leo Pilimehana's Nalani Choy said she knew the Grammy day would come, having seen Hawaiian music "grow and really develop" the last few decades.

"A lot has changed since the early days of 'Hawaii Calls' and Don Ho, which created an interest and a feeling, but now it's time for the mainland to hear the new Hawaiian music."

Local entertainers and promoters pay homage to Alfred Apaka and Robin Luke, but especially Ho, who had four albums on Billboard's hit list in the 1960s but never earned Grammy recognition.

"It was great back then because it showed that America would listen to music from here," Ho said. "Over here, we were doing happy Hawaiian music with some Hawaiian words in it to make it Hawaiian."

Ho won't concede any contribution he may have made to Hawaii's music scene.

"That was then and this is now," he said. "Suddenly we have people who know how to get this category in the Grammys to prove still that we have all kind music here."

Ho's influence over 40 years has been so strong that the mainland's impression of Hawaiian music is largely of him and the tiki-style exotica perpetuated in films and TV shows with Hawaii as a backdrop.

"It's still pretty much steel guitar, slack key and 'Blue Hawaii' stuff," Choy said. "Most of the contemporary Hawaiian music and certainly the traditional music we have here isn't being heard much on the mainland."

Entertainer Henry Kapono hopes those impressions will change. "Everyone used to only associate Hawaiian music with hula dancers, ukuleles, sweet-sounding melodies and hapa-haole stuff. Please, people across the pond, come visit and see how things have changed."

Ho singles out Reichel as being "as close culturally as you can get musically."

"He gets lots of record sales and radio play, which is a key to getting your name out there, to sell records and to win awards, whether it's a Hoku or Grammy."

Although Reichel is appreciative of the Grammy recognition, he said it doesn't make the music more or less important than it's been for centuries.

"It's wonderful that it's being recognized, but the music has always been credible," he said. "What's important is that the recognition may increase worldwide awareness of the Hawaiian culture, expand audiences and simply educate people about us."

GRAMMY RECOGNITION of Hawaiian music has been helped by Hawaii residents who have moved to the mainland and "took the culture with them," Kapono said.

"They're like emissaries and are making people more aware of Hawaii's native arts and culture," he said. "It's creating a familiarity."

Popular mainstream artists who have incorporated Hawaiian music in their albums, including Kenny Loggins and Jimmy Buffett, have also helped spread the word.

"It all helps to get the music out there and some respect from that side of the pond," Kapono sad. "It translates to 'I want to go there, and I want to hear more of that music.'"

Actor/singer Jim Nabors, who has recorded 46 albums and lived in Hawaii since the 1970s, compares the Hawaiian music evolution to that of country music. "It's not New York and it's not Hollywood, so where do we put it? The truth now is Hawaii and its music have become international, like country."

Na Leo's Choy says country music was regional until it was accepted in the large markets of New York and Los Angeles. "Now it's crossed into adult contemporary radio where you hear artists like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain.

"When there's a contemporary Hawaiian music category, there'll be artists who can make that same crossover."

Na Leo was ineligible for Grammy consideration because the trio's music is considered contemporary. The addition of such a category would likely attract a younger demographic, the majority of listeners for world music, Catingub said. "That's where most Hawaiian music has been shoved for so many years," he said.

Hawaiian music has had "an interesting place" on the mainland since the 1930s, beginning with Bing Crosby and the "Hawaii Calls" radio program, Nabors said.

"Hawaii has never lost its allure," he said. "It's still a dream, and people come to Hawaii to hear the music, learn about the culture, enjoy the scenery. Credit a lot of that to Don Ho."

Catingub added, "He put it on the map, along with Alfred Apaka, but Don made it mainstream."

Ironically, Ho's success might also have hurt today's traditional artists.

"So many people only remember Don Ho and still consider his music to be Hawaiian music," Catingub said. "The Grammy category will prove that there's something here besides Don."

Promoter Tom Moffatt points out that several Hawaii artists have been popular with mainland audiences, though not with Hawaiian music. They include Martin Denny, Yvonne Elliman and Bette Midler.

"Still if you ask just about anyone on the mainland to name a Hawaiian music artist, they'll say Don Ho," Moffatt said. "What does the average visitor want to do? See Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor and Don Ho. That's all great, but there is a lot of great music here ready to be shared and heard."

The Grammy does a lot to bring that about, he said. "Grammy recognition screams to the world that we're an entity that produces great music. Hopefully, this will make mainland record companies realize there's something big here just ready to break."

 

 

 

 

February 4, 2005

 

Bush Officials Spell Out Cuts in Money for Housing

 

By ROBERT PEAR

 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - Facing the prospect of record deficits, Bush administration officials laid out proposals on Thursday for deep cuts in spending on housing and community development.

At the same time, the nation's top health official fleshed out proposals to cut $60 billion from the projected growth of Medicaid, the federal-state health program for low-income people, in the next decade.

But the official, Michael O. Leavitt, the new secretary of health and human services, said 12 million to 14 million people could gain health insurance if Congress approved President Bush's proposals to provide tax credits for such coverage and helped small businesses band together to buy coverage.

Donald L. Evans, the commerce secretary, and Alphonso R. Jackson, the secretary of housing and urban development, said Mr. Bush wanted to consolidate 18 local assistance programs scattered among five departments into one new grant program, to be run by the Commerce Department.

The government is now spending more than $5.6 billion a year on the 18 programs, which include the Community Development Block Grant, a lifeline for many impoverished urban neighborhoods. For the new program, Mr. Bush will request $3.7 billion, a cut of about 33 percent.

"The current system forces communities to navigate a maze of federal departments, agencies and programs, each imposing a separate set of standards and reporting requirements," Mr. Jackson said. The programs, he said, "duplicate and overlap one another and have different eligibility criteria," with little accountability for the way money is used.

But Jim Hunt, a city councilman in Clarksburg, W.Va., who is first vice president of the National League of Cities, said the president's proposal would have "a dire negative impact on cities of all sizes." For three decades, Mr. Hunt said, cities have used the federal money to create jobs, stimulate private investment and revitalize distressed communities.

Sherry Conway Appel, a spokeswoman for the league, said, "We want the Community Development Block Grant to remain a separate and distinct program," with no reduction in its budget.

Don Plusquellic, the mayor of Akron, Ohio, who is president of the United States Conference of Mayors, said: "The new proposal in unconscionable. It will cut programs that help the poorest and the neediest."

Mr. Plusquellic, a Democrat who has led his city for 18 years, said the reshuffling of federal programs obscured the likely effects. "It would be more honest if the federal government simply said, 'We don't care about these poor people,' " he said.

A summary of the proposal, prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, says Mr. Bush believes that communities must not "rely on perpetual federal assistance."

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which now runs the Community Development Block Grant, said the program provided $393 million this year to New York State, including $207 million for New York City, $17.6 million for Nassau County and $10.9 million for Rochester. New Jersey gets $113 million, and Connecticut $46.6 million.

Under the same program, Chicago is receiving a grant of $95.5 million, while Los Angeles is getting $82.8 million and Houston is getting $34.2 million, the department said.

The proposal could face bipartisan resistance in Congress, because lawmakers take pride in earmarking some of the money for hometown projects.

Bush administration officials said the community development program was poorly focused. Eligibility for the new grant program will be based on factors like poverty and unemployment levels.

Among the programs that would be folded into the new initiative is the Community Services Block Grant, which helps pay for community action agencies begun more than 35 years ago as part of what was called the war on poverty. These agencies provide a wide range of housing, nutrition, education and employment services to low-income people.

Mr. Bush said in his State of the Union address on Wednesday that his budget, to be unveiled on Monday, would reduce or eliminate more than 150 government programs. White House officials said the new blueprint for federal spending would be the tightest budget since Mr. Bush took office in 2001.

Other programs to be consolidated under the president's plan include urban and rural empowerment zones, a program to foster development of contaminated industrial sites and a pot of money known as the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, run by the Treasury.

The White House predicted last week that the federal budget deficit would rise to $427 billion this year, from $412 billion last year. If Congress adopts his proposals, Mr. Bush says, the deficit will be less than $260 billion in 2009.

Mr. Leavitt, the health secretary, said the president's budget would crack down on the ability of middle-income families to get Medicaid coverage for nursing home costs, which average more than $55,000 a year.

 

 

 

 

 

McCain pledges to keep committee non-partisan

 

Indian Country Today February 04, 2005.

Posted: February 04, 2005

by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today

 

WASHINGTON, DC - Conducting the first public meeting of his return engagement as Senate Committee on Indian Affairs chairman, Sen. John McCain paid tribute to retired chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell, saluted the ''unwavering commitment'' to Native issues of Hawaii Democratic committee member Daniel Inouye, and said he will work to keep committee proceedings non-partisan. He added that the committee has seen significant changes in its membership, but none at all in its ''solemn commitment'' to Indian people.

The Arizona Republican also set forth an agenda that coincided with that of the Resources Committee in the House of Representatives, a signal the two committees of jurisdiction on most Indian issues are united on priorities going into the current 109th Congress. Above all, McCain emphasized the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. To the sharp disappointment of Indians, their congressional allies and professional staffers, the act was an 11th-hour casualty in the last Congress, leaving Indian health care unauthorized. ''We must get this important legislation passed in this session,'' McCain said.

Other issues before the committee will be the Cobell litigation over federal mismanagement of Indian trust funds, tribal recognition and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the Indian title of national energy legislation, transportation, education and welfare, homeland security and tribes - and the bill for Native Hawaiian self-governance. With remarks early in January, McCain raised fears that as chairman he would table the bill. He has clarified his position since and now says the bill will get a fair hearing before the committee. If voted for by a majority on the committee, he added, it will be debated on the Senate floor. He expressed continuing concerns with the bill as well.

Not forgotten was the scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff, his communications associate Michael Scanlon and their well-paid dealings with tribes. Significantly perhaps, given the twosome's approach to congressional members and appearances with members of the White House staff, McCain said the committee's investigation is ''far from over.'' He referred to Abramoff and Scanlon as ''scoundrels.''

Otherwise the Jan. 26 meeting was uneventful, involving rules changes. The presence of a majority of committee members is now a quorum, and committee subpoenas can be issued upon agreement of the chairman and the vice-chairman, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

McCain last chaired the committee a decade ago. He has been a committee member since that time, however.

ANWR, Akaka bills are back in play

As anticipated, Rep. Don Young has reintroduced a bill to authorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a measure successfully resisted by environmentalists and their congressional allies in each of the last two Congresses.

The current 109th Congress, by contrast, shows a larger Republican majority in both chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The GOP hopes this will be the session to enact a leading priority of President Bush. Young, an Alaska Republican, is a member of the House Resources Committee.

His bill's mid-January reintroduction was the second of four major statements of Republican resolve on ANWR and Alaska oil. First, the Resources Committee announced that ANWR would be a priority, and Young followed by introducing a bill identical to last year's (though it differs in key respects from a Senate version that also elapsed last year). Then on Jan. 19, Bush's nominee as Energy Secretary, Samuel Bodman, said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that he will support ANWR drilling, as well as construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, west of ANWR. On Jan. 20, the Bureau of Land Management's Alaska regional director announced lease sales for winter drilling and coal mining in North Slope caribou and wild goose habitat.

Also as anticipated, the Hawaii congressional delegation in both chambers reintroduced the Akaka Bill, named after lead sponsor Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. The ultimate purpose of the bill is to provide federal recognition for Native Hawaiians as a political entity, though its immediate provisions would only authorize Native Hawaiians to engage in a process that would lead to federal recognition. Racial preferences for Native Hawaiians are under siege in several court cases. The Hawaii congressional delegation maintains the bill will establish parity in federal policies toward Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and American Indians.

Last year, Republican leadership in the Senate assured Akaka and fellow Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye that the bill would be debated on the Senate floor, assuming it makes it out of committee as anticipated. The bill has passed in the House in previous years, heavily assisted by Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case, both D-Hawaii.

Wartime deficit deepens

The politically neutral Congressional Budget Office estimates a record $427 billion federal deficit in fiscal year 2005, eclipsing the record $412 billion figure in 2004.

The deficit figure comes despite a double-digit increase in taxes to the federal treasury, according to The Washington Post. The administration of Pres. Bush had counted on such receipts - sign of a growing economy - to curb the deficit. The deficit is the amount expenditures exceed revenues in a fiscal year.

The problem is not a shortage of revenues but a surfeit of spending. Bush has run three of the largest consecutive deficits in U.S. history. By the time two requests for a total $105 billion for war this year are factored in, the war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq will have cost more than $270 billion over fewer than three years.

A CBO forecast of future federal debt for the next decade, gloomy enough on the face of it, assumed no U.S. spending in Iraq or Afghanistan over that period. The federal debt is cumulative U.S. borrowing to cover deficits, minus amounts paid back.

In general, debt and deficit figures directly affect the revenues available for spending on the kind of domestic discretionary programs tribes rely on.

 

 

 

 

 

Why I Support Federal Recognition

 

By Mahealani Kamau‘u

 

Featured in Ka Wai Ola o OHA

 

Editor’s note: Mahealani Kamau‘u is the executive director of Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. However, she wrote this article as a private citizen, since the NHLC has not taken a formal position on this issue.

 

I support federal recognition for Hawaiian for four main reasons:

• We need a real government.

• We need to engage the U.S.

• We need to protect Hawaiian programs.

• We need participation.

 

We need a real government.

By this I mean a government that is in existence and "for real,” as opposed to a government that is in abstraction or merely dreamed about. Having a political status indistinguishable from other American citizens, we are now completely at the mercy of those who have little understanding or empathy for Hawaiian people and the challenges they face. To deny the truth of that reality is delusional.

 

Many of us feel we live in a state of siege. Developers are smothering our reefs, polluting our ocean, cutting us off from traditional sources of food. They are bulldozing our family's bones, obliterating sacred places, claiming our lands, diverting our waters. They are criminalizing our sick, rousting our homeless, exiling our incarcerated, expropriating our culture. And the increased militarization of Hawai‘i is regarded by the powerful as a desirable foregone conclusion.

 

Hawaiians need increased political power to hang on to Hawai‘i. The longer Hawaiians wait, the more we lose. What will we leave for future generations? Therefore, I support that part of the Akaka Bill which encourages us to form a government.

 

A Hawaiian government, imperfect though it may be within the existing political framework, still affords a greater degree of political autonomy than we have today. It positions us to press for return of lands and natural resources, compensation for past and ongoing occupation of our lands and use of our resources, and compensation for America's use of military force to deprive us of our inherent right to exercise political sovereignty over our nation.

 

We need to engage the U.S.

The United States has declared that it seeks reconciliation with Hawaiians. Sooner or later, the U.S. and Hawaiians must come to the table and work things out if we are to move beyond our current malaise.

 

The Akaka Bill may be viewed as a framework for that engagement, the best one presented at this time in our history. As an official declaration of U.S. policy, it contains explicit language that makes it clear that our claims against the U.S. are not extinguished.

 

That is half of the equation. Then, if Hawaiians form a government, it is for them to decide whether or not they agree with terms of the legislation, and whether they will take the affirmative steps required to consummate that engagement. The Hawaiian government would be free to accept or reject the bill’s terms.

 

Hawaiians need to protect their trust assets

Many Hawaiians are cynical about federal recognition as a means of protecting Hawaiian trust assets. Even as they learn about lawsuits which seek to extinguish Hawaiian programs on the basis of race discrimination, they don't believe the lawsuits will ever succeed; or they believe the programs unnecessary, benefiting a few self-serving Hawaiians; or they welcome an end to such programs because they believe Hawaiians must be weaned from such dependency.

 

That these programs have been of great value to the Hawaiian community is undisputed. Hawaiian Homes, Kamehameha Schools, Queen Lili‘uokalani Trust, Punana Leo, Alu Like, OHA, community-based health centers -- all of these and many more have contributed immeasurably to the well-being of our community. That the lawsuits have potential to dismantle these programs is a fact.

 

That federal recognition can help protect against these lawsuits is also a fact, for U.S. case law has upheld legislation if "tied rationally to the fulfillment of Congress' unique obligation" to native peoples. We leave a legacy of shame if we ignore this and allow our trusts to be destroyed.

 

We need participation

My greatest fear is that yet another effort at organizing ourselves will fail because we refuse to participate. Nearly every effort at enrollment to form a government has been met with ambivalence and cynicism by one or another segment of our community. But all of us need to participate in order for our government to be legitimate.

 

Many of the arguments against federal recognition focus on America-the-Bad, Not-to-be-Trusted; the fear that we will compromise future options for independence; and the indignity of being relegated to a status less than that which our ancestors demanded.

 

For me, however, the greater indignity is to continue the status quo, with no realistic hope of relief in the foreseeable future. I do not believe our participation in a such a process compromises our ability to pursue other options: once our government is formed, we can decide not to accept federal recognition if America's terms are unacceptable, or we can delay participation until federal legislation reflects our wishes.

 

As my involvement with the Hawaiian political movement exceeds 30 years, I don't believe myself to be unduly impatient. I, like many others, would like to see a tangible step toward political unity, toward addressing historic injustices, and for the collective will of Hawaiians to exert a more potent force for better living conditions, during my lifetime. I am doing my very best, as a Hawaiian living in today's time, to make decisions that will honor my ancestors and be a blessing to my children and grandchildren.

 

 

 

 

 

Haskell not alone with budget shortfall frustrations

 

Tribal colleges struggle with chronic underfunding

 

By Maria Sudekum Fisher - Associated Press Writer

Monday, February 7, 2005

Tom Dixon walks through the halls of the science department at Haskell Indian Nations University, where he has been a physics teacher for more than 30 years.

He points out peeling paint and the new heating and cooling system, which he says takes up too much space, costs too much to run and still doesn't work right. He shows how one classroom also triples as an office and a lab.

Then there's Dennis O'Malley's office, which doesn't have electricity. O'Malley, a chemistry professor at Haskell, makes do by snaking an extension cord from an adjoining classroom.

"We all make do," Dixon said. "We all have more than one job, and we all work long days. That's just the way it is."

Haskell and the nation's other 34 tribal colleges serve about 30,000 students. The tribal college system was founded in the 1960s to educate the nation's American Indians, who now number about 2.4 million and consistently rank on the lower rungs of most socio-economic scales. Unlike Haskell, most of the tribal colleges are two-year programs and are located on reservations.

Most also are largely funded by Congress and controlled by their particular tribe. Haskell, the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe are controlled and funded by the federal government.

Last year President Bush asked Congress to allocate $43.4 million for the colleges, a $5.5 million cut from the previous year. Congress gave $52.8 million, but full funding would have been about $67 million, said Meg Goetz, congressional liaison for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.

"It's definitely chronic underfunding," Goetz said. "And another big problem is the fact that the schools aren't forward-funded. So this year it took until December (for funding to be approved), and in those gap times the tribal colleges have to come up with money. It's year by year, and they can't plan."

Goetz said the tribal colleges get money on a per student basis and were losing money at current levels.

"If they were funded at the authorized level of $6,000 per student and you factored in inflation, they would be breaking even," Goetz said. "But they're not funded at the authorized level. This year they're getting $4,447 per student.

"So it's been 24 years, and they're just hitting three quarters of their authorized funding," she said. "After 24 years, you'd kind of figure they could have found it."

AIHEC recently studied the campus needs for the tribal colleges, many of which were still operating out of abandoned Bureau of Indian Affairs buildings or trailers.

"Some are still in trailers," Goetz said. "One school moved into a fish-processing plant, up in Michigan's upper peninsula. And they love it. It's freezing in there, but they said it's a big improvement.

"Other schools said they had all the computers they needed, but that they couldn't use them because the wiring wasn't up to code."

Innovative funding

Some of the tribal colleges have come up with new ways to make ends meet. Sitting Bull College in North Dakota has its own construction company and just recently started a technical support company.

"We do not operate at all with loans," said Coreen Ressler, dean of academic affairs at Sitting Bull. "We always do a balanced budget, which is why we've kind of gone to some innovative types of funding."

She said the college, which is located on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Fort Yates, N.D., has constant struggles with old buildings.

"We have one hall we call the Hall of Many Buckets, because we have buckets all over the place so they can catch the rain when the roof leaks. And we have to put up walls to make offices, we lack classroom space," she said. "Right now our science facility is a two-room trailer."

But Sitting Bull College, which enrolls about 400 students, is building a new science center thanks to a combination of money from the tribe, private donations and competitive federal grants, Ressler said.

Schooling isn't free

Nicole Adams of the American Indian College Fund said common misconceptions were that American Indians get free education or that Indian casinos foot the bill for the schools. But less than one-third of the federally recognized tribes in the nation have gaming operations.

"It's a tiny percentage of all Indian communities that get any benefits from gaming," Adams said. Plus, she said, if one tribe makes a lot of money from gambling, that doesn't mean other tribes will benefit.

"There's this good analogy: People don't expect the city of Las Vegas to share the wealth with the city of New York or Long Island," Adams said. "Why should they expect the tribes who make money with casinos to pay for other tribes' education?"

The American Indian College Fund gives out about $3.4 million in scholarship money annually to American Indian students attending tribal colleges. That amount reaches about 15 percent of the need, Adams said.

"The scale of how far the dollar will go with these students is amazing. They will say ‘I got a $500 scholarship, and it made all the difference. It's what got me through,"' she said.

Safe environment

Karen Swisher, president of Haskell, said Haskell and the tribal colleges provide American Indians with more than degrees. In order to enroll at Haskell for BIA benefits a student has to be a member of a recognized tribe. The fee for a semester is $105 for on-campus students, and $70 a semester for off-campus.

"The environment that we provide is one that many of our students have never experienced before. It's a safe environment," Swisher said. "Safe meaning they can be who they are."

Contents of this site are © Copyright 2005 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

Test-score gap remains for low-income pupils

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

February 7, 2005

Low-income students in Hawai'i's public schools had higher test scores last school year but still remained well below the state average, a troubling achievement gap that may grow as academic goals become more stringent under federal law.

An annual report by the state Department of Education to the federal government broke out the student test scores released last summer by income and race. The report is required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act to document differences in student achievement so schools can identify students who need help.

Low-income students, like students overall across the Islands, made progress on the state's reading and math tests, but the gap between their scores and the state average was virtually the same as the previous school year.

The report, educators say, underscores both the value and the unfairness of the law. Schools, many for the first time, are openly confronting the influence of income and race on student achievement. But schools are also expected to wipe away generations of inequality on a rigid timetable so all students are proficient in core subjects by 2014.

On the Mainland, the gaps between students are solidly rooted in race and income. In multicultural Hawai'i, the differences between students are more closely tied to income, with race mostly a factor for Native Hawaiian and Pacific islanders who live in poor or rural areas.

Over the past two school years, according to the DOE's reports, the rate of low-income students proficient or advanced in math and reading is about 10 percentage points to 15 percentage points below state averages. While that is not unexpected, it is still striking given that overall state scores are also relatively low.

The achievement gap is felt the most at the school level, where teachers and principals have to get students from different backgrounds to achieve the same standards. Educators fear that a scheduled increase this school year in academic targets will be too much for many schools and could threaten the optimism after last year's gains. Schools must have 44 percent of their students proficient in reading — up from 30 percent — and 28 percent proficient in math — up from 10 percent.

"Every teacher, every principal, every school is focused. I sincerely believe we will get there. We will reach those benchmarks," said Katherine Kawaguchi, a DOE assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum. "The bar has been raised significantly."

Students are now tested in the third, fifth, eighth and 10th grades, although more grades will be added over the next few years and the Bush administration wants to expand the law more fully into high schools.

Hawai'i has nearly another decade to meet the law's goals — and is almost halfway there in reading in some grades — so educators are looking beyond the immediate future toward ideas that might have an impact years from now.

School administrators believe that attention to reading in the early grades, along with linking classroom instruction to the material on the tests, has made a difference in third- and fifth-grade scores that could translate into higher performance in the upper grades. Two other steps — lowering class sizes in the early grades and expanding access to preschool — could help low-income students who often enter school already behind their classmates.

A study just released by Kamehameha Schools found that Native Hawaiian students in charter schools are doing at least as well, and in some cases much better, than Native Hawaiian students in traditional public schools. Like other early charter school research, the study cautions that such comparisons are complex and involve numerous variables that can influence the findings.

For instance, parental involvement — a major factor in student achievement — is often greater in charter schools. The schools are also typically much smaller than traditional public schools so students are more likely to get individual attention from teachers. The Native Hawaiian-themes at many charter schools may also capture the attention of students who feel more connected to their culture.

The study reinforces anecdotes from parents and charter-school administrators who say that some students are making rapid improvement. The study found that Native Hawaiian students in traditional public schools were more than four times as likely to be chronically absent than those who attend charter schools.

Under No Child Left Behind, the test is not just whether schools are improving, but whether they are improving fast enough for schools to escape sanctions. Over half of the state's schools made their targets last school year, and the DOE has sought to give others that are making progress some leeway, but all schools are expected to eventually close the achievement gap and get results regardless of socioeconomic or racial differences.

"I think the secret is the parent must be involved. You have to be connected somehow," said Kehau Marshall, whose son, Kai, is in the sixth grade at Kanu 'O Ka 'Aina, a Big Island charter school.

Her son attended a Hawaiian language immersion school until second grade and was reading below grade level before he moved to the charter school. She believes that the charter school's cultural component and project-based approach to learning has helped her son tremendously. She said he now reads above grade level and does well in math.

But she realizes that some schools, under pressure to improve immediately, do not always have time to give all students the attention they need.

"He's like two different people," Marshall said of her son's performance over the past few years. "What the charter school allowed him to do was to learn at his own time."

 

 

 

 

'Repatriate ancient Chamorro remains'

Friday, February 04, 2005
Saipan Tribune

SAIPAN, CNMI - The Division of Historic Preservation wants the remains of some 263 ancient Chamorros repatriated to the CNMI, according to HPO historian Genevieve S. Cabrera. These remains have been carbon-dated to be more than 300 years old.

These remains are currently in the safekeeping of a laboratory in Massachusetts for almost 10 years now, said Cabrera.

The remains were found in 1996 when a Japanese investor planned to erect a hotel along the beach in front of the DFS Galleria mall near the Hafa Adai Hotel. Diggings revealed that the site was full of human remains and some village artifacts, so the plan for the hotel was junked and the Japanese investor funded the archaeological dig, said Cabrera.

The Japanese investor hired three professional archaeologists based on Saipan to work and identify the remains. The remains were transferred to Massachusetts for identification and recovery. In 1998, the Japanese investor pulled out of the project due to lack of funds.

According to HPO's Herman C. Tudela, there were also latté stones found on the site, confirming that there had been villages in the area.

"These artifacts are very important," said Cabrerra. "These are significant to the CNMI community. We need these remains returned."

But this will only be done when certain pending issues are resolved such as payment to the archaeologists. "The lab in Massachusetts won't return them unless they get paid," she said.

The CNMI government had earlier attempted to retrieve the remains but this did not work out due to financial reasons and other factors that Cabrera said she was not aware of during that time. She said that the Japanese investor still has the sole responsibility to pay for the services of the archaeologists but she hopes that the government can help in this matter.

She believes that the artifacts and remains have significant value for the CNMI as it will teach present-day Chamorros about their ancient ancestors.

"If we don't

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Thursday, February 3, 2005

Wal-Mart reburial of bones Feb. 18

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

HONOLULU, HI - The state has set a new date, Feb. 18, for reburial of Native Hawaiian human remains removed during construction at Wal-Mart's Ke'eaumoku Street complex, and the company is working to get all the permits issued in time to meet that deadline.

The new timetable — an extension of an initial Jan. 10 deadline — has frustrated the project archaeologist, who says time is still too short for his crew to accurately separate all the bones into individual sets for reburial.

The issue of how and when the bones of an estimated 44 to 50 individuals should be reburied has become a tug of war that started two years ago when the remains were discovered. Tension has increased in recent months, with state officials wanting to accelerate the reburial plans and descendants divided over how the archaeological studies should proceed.

Melanie Chinen, administrator of the State Historic Preservation Division, could not be reached for comment. But in a Jan. 25 letter to Wal-Mart, Chinen said that the inventory of the burials — complicated because the remains in one area were found as a mixture of bones rather than intact burials — must be finished by Feb. 11.

She said in the letter that the archaeological data recovery under way "goes beyond that required to reasonably determine the ethnicity of the human remains found at the project site" and the "reasonable reassociation" of the bones into sets. She added that her department has jurisdiction over reburying these remains.

Aki Sinoto, the archaeologist Wal-Mart hired to do the work, expressed his disappointment with the finding and said sorting the bones into individual burials takes more work than what Chinen has said.

"They've pretty much invoked their administrative jurisdiction," he said. "We're not going to finish, not with that kind of timetable ... they seem to think it's real simple."

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said the company is still reviewing Chinen's letter.

"We remain committed to ensuring the remains are reburied as soon as possible and in a culturally appropriate manner," she said.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.

 

 

 

 

Makahiki allowed for Hawaii inmates on mainland

 

By Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.com

 

February 8, 2005

Hawaiian inmates at an Oklahoma prison practiced last night for their Sunday Makahiki celebration, an event their supporters hail as a victory for religious freedom.

About 100 men will mark the ancient Hawaiian tradition, ending the season of peace and honoring Lono, the god of agriculture, peace and fertility. Chanting, hula, a cleansing ritual written for the men by kumu John Keola Lake, and an awa-drinking ceremony are on the agenda, as well as a feast with laulau, fish and poi.

A linchpin of the inmates' support has been the United Church of Christ, descendant of the first missionaries who brought Christianity to Hawaii and which has taken heat from other churches for supporting a "pagan" religious practice.

The event at the Diamondback Correctional Facility at Watonga, Okla., will be staged with the approval of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, said spokesman Mike Gaede. Two years ago the Correctional Corp. of America, which operates the prison, refused any such activity after being informed by a former Public Safety administrator that there is no such thing as a Hawaiian religion.

A 2003 lawsuit filed by 33 inmates challenged the constitutionality of that decision. It is pending before federal District Judge David Ezra. Attorneys for the state, the prison corporation and the inmates have met to discuss a possible settlement in the case.

"The men are getting to practice their tradition and learn more about their religion," said the Rev. Rosemary McCombs-Maxey, a leader of the Hawaii inmates' Oklahoma advocates.

She said she became involved for two reasons: as a clergywoman answering Hawaiian prisoners' appeal for a sponsor and as a member of the American Indian Muscogee nation.

The Oklahoma prison has 778 prisoners from Hawaii, according to Gaede. However, he did not know how many of them were native Hawaiian.

Last night, McCombs-Maxey and another minister were "made welcome in a kind and gracious way" by the prison staff, permitted to attend the Makahiki rehearsal and cleared to attend future weekly meetings of the Native Hawaiian Religion and Culture Club.

But that came after two years of roadblocks, as papers filed by Oklahoma clergy members were lost or delayed in the system and prison staff changed.

"It was like a shell game," she said. "We could not find out why we were not being let in. We were told the Hawaiian religion is not bona fide, so we don't have to let you in. I guess we were being a nuisance.

"A former chaplain said it was pagan. He was critical of us for not bringing in the Christian gospel," McCombs-Maxey said. "We said our brand of Christian says to be respectful of their faith; we always honor the men in their religious tradition. That is where healing comes from."

Kaleihau Kamauu, one of the inmate plaintiffs, said: "It is an effort by us guys inside taking responsibility for ourselves, making what moves we can to reconnect with our identity. It's because of the lack of spiritual foundation that we land in areas that we end up in prison, jails and mental institutions. This is a recovery, a healing thing."

Kamauu, who has since been returned to Hawaii as his 11-year sentence for robbery nears an end, said the Diamondback inmates were allowed a small observance last year under an order from the judge. Ezra permitted a weekly meeting during the three-month Makahiki period, he said. The crowd at meetings where "the brothers shared their manao" grew from 10 to about 80 men, he said.

The United Church of Christ denomination put its support of native religious practice on the record last month. The board of directors of the Hawaii conference passed a resolution supporting native Hawaiian practice in prison, and a similar proposal will be presented at the July national General Synod in Atlanta.

"The question is raised here as well as in Oklahoma: Why would a Christian church support a non-Christian religion? The crux is freedom of religion and the justice issue," said the Rev. Kekapa Lee, head of the Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches within the denomination. "There are people being denied the right to express their spirituality. These are not strangers; they are our families, people we know.

"This is one segment of the community asking for support," Lee said. "To help in ways to bring wholeness to the prisoners, to reconcile, to prepare to re-enter society -- this is part of our witness as UCC."

McCombs-Maxey, who teaches university classes in her Muscogee language, said she is impressed with the inmates' plans that go beyond the Sunday Makahiki. The weekly meeting of the Native Hawaiian Religion and Culture Club plans to begin a study of the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant.

"They are cut off from all the resources they would have back in Hawaii, and they are willing to start with what they have," she said.

"I was encouraged to see substance. Like all native people, we know we have ancient traditions, and some have been lost. We are not sure how to get back to our roots."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Thursday, February 3, 2005

EDUCATION BRIEFS

Space Foundation courts Hawaiians

 

Advertiser Staff

The Space Foundation has established a scholarship program for teachers of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry, or teachers working with students of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry.

The scholarship will allow the teachers to travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the annual Summer Institute program, which will cover topics ranging from rockets and robotics to living and learning in space.

The Lucy Enos Memorial Scholarship honors the grandmother of Elliot Pulham, president and chief executive officer of the Space Foundation. Enos was born in Pahala in 1898, and spent her life on the Big Island homesteading a sugar plantation and a cattle ranch.

For more information, visit www.spacefoundation.org.

 

 

 

 

 

Mayor chooses Nakasone to head band

 

The Pearl City director has taken students to several top events

 

By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

 

February 2, 2005

HONOLULU, HI - Michael Nakasone, who has led the Pearl City High School Marching Band to the prestigious Tournament of Roses and Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades, will strike up the Royal Hawaiian Band as its new leader.

Nakasone replaces longtime bandmaster Aaron Mahi, who was not reappointed to the post by Mayor Mufi Hannemann. Mahi has been the director of the Royal Hawaiian Band since 1981.

"Mr. Nakasone has what I believe is the musicianship, the leadership and proven fund-raising skills to be an excellent bandmaster to replace Mr. Mahi," Hannemann said.

Nakasone, 60, has been a music educator with Pearl City High School for 28 years and the only bandmaster to be named state Teacher of the Year.

Nakasone has taken the acclaimed Pearl City High School Marching Band to several high-profile international events, including four appearances at the Tournament of Roses Parade in California, three in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and performances in Canada and Japan.

He begins his new job Feb. 16, although his appointment is subject to City Council confirmation.

Nakasone's skills at helping parents and students raise millions of dollars over the years to finance mainland trips for the school's bands were a big plus in his selection for the $99,800-a-year post, said Hannemann, who wants the city to find ways to partner with the private sector to finance public services.

"I'm very, very grateful for everything that Aaron Mahi has done," Hannemann said. "There's no question he was a great bandmaster and someone who put his own imprimatur on the Royal Hawaiian Band."

Most of the Royal Hawaiian Band members criticized Mahi's abilities as an administrator and band leader and called for his replacement.

Mahi's name was not among the three sent to Hannemann from a committee screening applicants for the band director's position.

Hannemann said if Mahi's name had been among the applicants, he probably would have reappointed him.

"But it was clear to me that the process was fair, it was thorough, it evaluated all aspects of being a director and not just the bandmaster, being a leader," Hannemann said.

"When you have an individual who has become synonymous with a great institution, it's extremely, extremely difficult to make changes," said Joe Pickard, who headed the search for Mahi's replacement. "When you do that, certain individuals or certain sectors of the community are naturally disappointed."

Pickard said the committee was looking for change, "someone who would invigorate the band, that would go out there and have the energy, the vision to really make the band what it was intended."

Nakasone said he knows most of the band members and he is confident their relationship will help them get through any issues raised by Mahi's departure.

"Since I know a lot of them, I really feel they will give me great support to succeed," Nakasone said. "At this time, I'm not really worried about the problems and the morale problems at the Royal Hawaiian Band. I think when I get to do the job, express my goals and everything else, I'm sure that we can succeed."

His appointment is being well-received.

"I congratulate Mr. Michael Nakasone," said Eric Kop, a 16-year band member of the Royal Hawaiian Band. "I believe he has the band's best interest. Yes, I think he will be supported (by band members)."

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on: Monday, February 7, 2005

Experts strive to save native aquatic insects

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

There are few things as gratifying for Ronald Englund as when a Hawaiian damselfly whizzes by. That's when he knows everything's right with the world.

Englund, an aquatic insect expert with the Bishop Museum, said the damselfly, by its mere presence, indicates that a freshwater ecosystem is healthy and pristine, both free-flowing and free of alien species.

"It's really something to be happy for," Englund said. "If you see the damselfly, you know this is the way it ought to be. This is the way it was even before humans arrived in Hawai'i."

Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, there are fewer and fewer places in the Islands where the damselfly takes flight. On O'ahu, it requires a dangerous hike into the uplands before you can see them. There aren't many accessible areas on the Neighbor Islands, either.

That's not good for the 400 to 500 other known native aquatic species that live in Hawai'i's freshwater ponds, wetlands and streams.

"They're all in the same boat," Englund said.

But while most conservationists here are busy trying to save mammals, birds and plants, Hawai'i's beleaguered aquatic insects go largely unnoticed. Englund would like that to change.

These bugs, he said, are a key component of biodiversity in various freshwater ecosystems, yet they are threatened by more than 70 introduced fish species that have unleashed devastating effects.

Why isn't more effort being put into aquatic insect conservation?

"They aren't warm and fuzzy. They aren't cute. They aren't like the (Hawaiian) monk seal or the birds," Englund said.

They're also perceived as pests, lumped in the same lowly category with cockroaches, mosquitoes and centipedes. But aquatic insect predators in the odonata order, which includes damselflies and dragonflies, provide a service by eating mosquitoes.

'Incredibly beautiful'

Englund, who has studied aquatic bugs across the Pacific, said these insects hold a special place in Hawaiian culture and other Polynesian traditions. For example, at the top of Kaua'i's Mount Wai'ale'ale, near a bog where dragonflies are numerous, there's a heiau with a name that incorporates the Hawaiian word for dragonfly: pinao.

"In the Marquesas, if a damselfly flies into your house, it's a good omen," he said.

There's another good reason to save Hawai'i's damsels in distress, according to Englund: "They are incredibly beautiful, as far as the insect world. They come in different shapes and colors, from a bright frosty blue to brilliant oranges, reds and yellows."

The Hawaiian damselflies are some of the largest in the United States. While other native aquatic insects evolved from the saltwater ocean environment, the damselfly colonized the Islands by flying here. And like lions and tigers in their respective habitats, damselflies and dragonflies are the reigning species in their water-bug world.

In Hawai'i, the damselfly, like so many other creatures, evolved into different species that became established on an array of islands, each carving out their own separate habitat in the aquatic landscape. Some live in the face of a waterfall, others live in the white water. Some types live in the calm waters, while others are nearer to the ocean.

Some damselflies have even evolved into terrestrial insects, living in ferns in the rain forest — a phenomenon found only in Hawai'i and Fiji.

There are other fascinating Hawaiian aquatic insects as well. There's a type of nabid that is a terrestrial bug everywhere else in the world except Hawai'i. Here, it evolved to prey on aquatic insects in their realm.

Then there are the water skaters, 60 or 70 different species of a bright metallic green aquatic fly that performs a Michelle Kwan-like dance on the surface of still-water habitats.

There are also aquatic moths, some of which can live underwater for up to two weeks.

Species disappeared

Hawai'i's aquatic insects apparently began their decline after tilapia and other fish species were introduced to freshwater bodies for mosquito control in the late 19th century. Stream diversions and channeling also played havoc with native insects, as did habitat loss and increasing water-quality problems.

One way scientists know native insect populations are waning is by going to the Bishop Museum collections, which date to the 1890s, and finding examples of bugs and the locations they were collected. Many species can't be found at the same places anymore.

One species, the orangeblack Hawaiian damselfly, used to be the most common garden insect in Honolulu in the late 19th century, according to one entomologist at the time. Today, the species is confined to about 100 yards of a remote stream high on military-controlled land.

Englund said a recent attempt to move some of the orangeblack Hawaiian damselflies to another stream was foiled after someone put crayfish in the stream.

Despite the setbacks, Englund said, there is room for optimism. The Salvinia molesta problem at Lake Wilson brought new attention to the health of freshwater ecosystems. Awareness of freshwater-related threats to humans also was heightened by a dengue fever outbreak and potential for West Nile virus, both of which are mosquito-borne diseases.

Gov. Linda Lingle last month authorized money to expand the development of an aquatic invasive species response team, a proposal that grew out of last year's creation of a state aquatic invasive species management plan.

Englund is proposing that the state restore at least one stream on each island to create a decent habitat for native aquatic insects. The effort would require the complete eradication of invasive fish from a stream and then the relocation of natives into the restored habitats. Isolated anchialine ponds and steep streams entering the coast as waterfalls are best-suited, he says.

Restoration of a small stream might cost $50,000, a relatively small price to pay in the overall conservation scheme, he said, but more research is needed.

"If the bugs can be worked out, it can be done," he said.

University of Hawai'i entomology professor Dan Rubinoff, who has been studying the native Hyposmocoma aquatic moths and their rapid evolution in Hawai'i, agrees conservation is needed to preserve native aquatic insects.

"It's one of the last chances to save a vestige of what used to be here," Rubinoff said. "It's shocking the number of people who don't know what Hawai'i used to look like."

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.

 

 

 

 

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